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Reviews
Chui lung (2017)
A cool and underrated gangster flick with some flaws
Chasing the Dragon is probably one of the better modern gangster movies. Wong Jing really needed to find a redeeming movie that would boost his career up after several disastrous other films. At first, I really just came hearing that the two stars were Andy Lau and Donnie Yen. That was a plus for many people. I don't know why Yen was picked for the role of a handicapped person where he couldn't do his signature martial arts moves, but hey, his acting wasn't bad. I honestly liked this movie a good deal, I thought it was entertaining and all, but there are some flaws. So here's my final verdict after watching the movie a lot of times.
First, it has pretty solid performances from Lau and Yen. Now, I do sometimes feel Yen's acting is a little fake, particularly in Special ID (which is a kinda bad movie). Most of the time, it's the awesome and brutal fight choreography that carries. However, in this one, while also a little fake, his performance and characterization of Ng Sik-ho was pretty impressive. Meanwhile, Lau's portrayal of Lee Rock is pretty impressive as well, with the sly smile to the anxious facial expressions whenever Ho may do something reckless. I also love the main score, with the violin playing and the ominous end. And not to mention, the ending is also very well-done, with Rock and Ho having one last smoke, before the ACTUAL ending pops out, as Ho now looks at all his fallen comrades as an old, regretful man. It's bittersweet, and also damn good writing. The story itself is also unpretentious.
And the bad. It is unnecessarily melodramatic. Whenever some characters die, you don't feel the full force of the hit. There is one exception, when Wayne dies in Bangkok. His final words are "Don't tell my grandma," which, earlier in the film, it's revealed he wanted to build a big house for her, and hoped one day he could return to China to do so, which, he can't. THAT, is a pretty solid way to kill a character off. However, most of the deaths aren't like that. Ho's wife and son die. Ok? We aren't really given any background on her anyway. Alva dies. We don't even interact with her character that much. Yet, the movie plays melodramatic music around their deaths like the characters matter. Which they kinda don't to the audience. For example, in Sha Po Lang/Kill Zone, although the deaths are also over-the-top and melodramatic, they also add meaning to some of the characters. Like, when Wu Jing kills a cop who was just regaining contact with his daughter, although it wasn't by any means tear-jerking, it felt like "Damn, that's kinda sad." And then there is Train to Busan, which spends so much time building on the characters, before killing them off. There's also the fact that there is a lot of side plots to deviate you from the main story, which becomes a little unnecessary after a while, since majority of these side plots events don't play into the main story.
I also have to mention that the Western actors had very crappy scripts, and had poor acting as well. Like, the British actors didn't even seem like they were trying. They sounded like goofy cartoon villains than actual people.
Overall though, Chasing the Dragon is a solid movie. I have some minor complaints, but hey, it isn't bad by any means. So I'd say go give it a try.